Propane shortage: Prices jump and scramble is on to get propane to heat homes

Propane shortage: Folks in Midwest that heat with propane are finding it hard to get and the prices are sky rocketing.

Wikimedia Commons

A propane shortage doesn’t just mean you’ll have a tough time filling your backyard grill tank, the propane shortage has folks who heat their homes with propane facing a state of emergency. According to the Christian Science Monitor on Jan. 21, the cold weather and heavy snows has caused a propane shortage in the Midwest, with Ohio hit extremely hard.

Rural residents that use propane to heat their home are finding the prices sky rocketing and supplies dwindling as the cold weather persists. The shortage of the propane has caused a state of emergency for the state of Ohio today.

Even when the trucks fill up and journey out to the rural residents, the roads are a mess with snow and the drivers are finding it hard to make the deliveries.

A recent Ohio census data shows that about six percent of Ohio residents heat with propane. In the rural counties of Ohio about 20 percent heat with propane gas. If they can’t get the gas, or get the trucks out to the rural homes, folks are in danger in the sub-freezing temperatures predicted to continue.

The shortage is linked to last year's fall season and the finger is pointed at an “unlikely culprit,” corn, according to the CSM today. A late corn harvest in 2013 and the early cold weather led to the use of the massive heaters to dry the corn.

These heaters are fueled by propane gas. This started the shortage and it perpetuated with the on-going cold weather and the overwhelming need for the gas to heat homes.

Share this article

Roz Zurko is a freelance writer originally from Milford, Conn. Today she writes from her home at the foot of the Berkshires in Massachusetts. Her articles have appeared in magazines, newspapers and online. She has been a guest author on BBC radio and her online articles are read by more than a million people each month.